Graham Kerr Biographies Graham Kerr Almost forgotten by the turn of the 2000s, Graham Kerr was the celebrity chef of the 1970s. He became famous for his one show, the "Galloping Gourmet." 455 episodes were filmed in all. There was butter, cream, wine and laughter. During the run of "The Galloping Gourmet", Weight Watchers named him "public enemy number one" and sent him a broken spoon. He was considered outrageous for the times. While making a chicken dish, he'd say "All right, ladies! Throw your breasts into the pan." He joked, played camp and laughed with his viewers, and never minded making himself the object of laughs. His episodes went so fast that no one was ever really able to write the recipes down. Then, it all changed. He had a car accident, and found Jesus and low-fat. He became a member of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel and an honorary life member of the American Dietetic Association.

He has become (as of 2007) a public speaker at hospitals and for organizations, health programmes and rehab centres, and has set up his own corporation called "Kerr Corporation." He partners with American Dietetic Association for projects, and does radio / TV spots for the American National Cancer Institute on healthy fruit and vegetables. A naturalized American citizen, he lives in Mount Vernon, Washington. His favourite spices are garlic, ginger, lemongrass and lemon. Chronology 1934 -- Graham was born 22 January 1934 in Brondesbury London, England. His Scottish Presbyterian parents had a hotel in Sussex; previously, his father John Douglas Kerr had worked for Claridge's in London. He went to a primary school called "Kidbrooke Park" in Forest Row, East Sussex. The first thing he made in the kitchen was puff pastry, when he was 6, reaching the work-surface in his parent's hotel's kitchen by standing on a box. The puff pastry didn't turn out. 1948 -- At the age of 14, Graham dropped out of school.

1949 -- At the age of 15, he started training at the Roebuck Hotel in Ware, East Sussex, England, then studied hotel management at colleges in Brighton (Brighton Technical College) and Devon. 1952 -- At the age of 18, he started several years in the British army in the kitchens at a garrison in Wales, then at the Army Emergency Reserve in Bedford, Bedfordshire. Part of his stint at one point was washing pans when he was demoted from Corporal to Private for not doing as he was told, and for pranks such as sending a Yorkshire pudding to the Ministry of Health to be analysed, 1955 -- On 22 September 1955, he married Treena Van Doom, an English actress (born 18 May 1934.) They had first met when they were both eleven. They would have three children. 1955 -- Graham and Treena joined Graham's parents as business partners in owning and running an inn dating back to the 1400s, but it went bankrupt.

To pay off their debts, he had to get a job as a waiter; she had to get a job as a barmaid. They paid off the debt with their tips. 1956 -- Their daughter Tessa was born. 1957 -- Aged twenty-three, he became general manager of the Royal Ascot Hotel in Berkshire (demolished 1964), where his parents were now working as well. He found it a lot of work for very little money. 1958 -- Graham and Treena emigrated to New Zealand, where Graham worked as a food advisor for the New Zealand Air Force. They arrived with $1.25 to their name; and got an advance of $200 on his salary. 1959 -- Graham appeared on the air in New Zealand to demonstrate cooking. In his very first cooking show ever on television, he was dressed in military uniform, and showed how to cook an omelet. He was a hit. He went on to do 60 shows more in this series, called "Entertaining with Kerr." He also became an advisor to various government produce marketing boards in New Zealand. 1960 -- His son Andrew was born.

1963 and 1965 -- Graham won New Zealand Television's "Personality of the Year" award. 1964 -- Graham was transferred by the military to Sydney, Australia, where he did a show called "Eggs with Flight Lieutenant Kerr" on Saturday nights. In Australia, he lived in Middle Harbour, Cremorne. He had a two-storey test kitchen built in the home. 1968 -- His daughter Kareena was born. 1968 -- A Canadian producer associated with Fremantle International saw his show in Australia, and offered him a gateway into the North American market. The fee paid to Graham would be $2 million for 650 episodes. Treena, his wife, would help produce the series. Graham came to Canada to star in the show called the "Galloping Gourmet." The series was produced in, of all places, Ottawa, Canada, for a TV channel called "CJOH-TV", part of Canada's state broadcasting station, CBC.

The show ran five days a week, Monday to Friday, on daytime TV, often in mid-morning, competing with other programmes such as "The Edge of Night" and "The Beverly Hillbillies." 1969 -- CBS in America picked it up starting in January 1969. Within five months, Julia Child reputedly said, "He doesn't know a thing about cooking." But his had become a must-see show. On 3 March 1969, Apollo 9 was launched into space. The news was almost overshadowed because it was also the day Graham Kerr's potholder caught fire on TV. In Ottawa, Graham and Treena lived in the exclusive Rockcliffe Village, but he still kept his house in Australia, which he considered home. During his time in Canada, Graham would have several extra-marital affairs. 1970 -- Graham lent his name to a collection of stove-top and oven ware, as well as cutlery. 1971 -- Graham was planning on ending the series.

He said in interviews in February of that year that the 1,000th episode would be his last -- "after all, nobody in their right mind could continue a pace like this" -- and that he'd focus on his cookware. Then, on 21 April of that year, he and Treena were in a car-crash in California. They were passengers in a house trailer that was rear-ended by a vegetable truck and trailer that was speeding. Graham was left with a dislocated spine and a weakened right arm, and was temporarily paralysed on his left side. His doctor told him he had to take a year off, so he had the reason he wanted to end the show. He decided to take his family on a round-the-world sailing trip. The first stop was England, to collect one of his daughters from school there, and to actually buy the boat -- a huge 71 foot (21 1/2 metres) fibreglass yacht for $250,000.

During a phone interview conducted with him while he was in Bournemouth, England, in October, he said ""I predict that within 25 years, 60 per cent of the people will be living on pills and a milky substance obtained from roots." 1972 -- In January, they were still in England. Treena was diagnosed with tuberculosis, and had to have part of her lungs removed. They then did a trial four-month cruise of the Mediterranean before starting their world cruise. The world cruise, however, never materialized as Treena found that she got too boat sick. 1972 -- In April, Graham and Treena filed $1.5 million worth of lawsuits in California against the drivers of both the vegetable truck and the house trailer, and their employers. The studios also sued the drivers because the accident prevented the series from getting completed. In July, Graham was in Toronto, Canada for a short while.

1973 -- (approximately.) Graham and Treena bought a 10,000 square foot 1814 mansion on a 10-acre estate in Easton, Maryland right on Chesapeake Bay, and built a $60,000 test kitchen there. He began teaching at Cornell University Hotel School in Ithaca, NY as an adjunct professor. To look after the house, Graham and Treena hired a maid named Ruthie who was a member of a Pentecostal Holiness church in Wilmington, Delaware. 1974 -- Graham and Treena lost $800,000 in bad investments. Forced to return to work, Graham developed the "Take Kerr" series of infomercials. At the end of this year, Treena became an evangelical Christian on 17 December when Ruthie the maid invited her to church; Graham followed suit three months later on 13 March 1975, a few months after Treena saw Jesus in a vision. They made immediate changes in the "Take Kerr" series. The wine rack in the background was replaced by a Holy Spirit Dove.

The sign-on song became "This is the day the lord has made", and bible verses were added to the closing credits. The advertising agencies asked them to remove the bible verses. The Kerrs refused. The TV stations edited them out anyway, and the Kerrs quit in a huff. [1] [2] [3] They auctioned off their house, their yacht, their sailboats and almost all their worldly possessions. They disowned their previous "Galloping Gourmet" work as sinful and tried to get re-runs taken off the air. [4] They became inspirational speakers, and opened a spiritual retreat centre near Vail, Colorado at a 614-acre ranch they called "Rejoice Fellowship" for couples, but it failed. 1978 -- Graham and Treena joined Youth With A Mission. 1986 -- Treena had a heart-attack, and Graham got serious about low-fat cooking. He decided that his calling was to teach people how to eat better.

1990s -- In the 1990s, Graham returned to TV, somewhat repentant over his earlier zealotry, promising advertisers to keep religion off the air, and began preaching the gospel of low-fat instead. His shows were more health-conscious, and were branded very tame. 1994 -- Graham received a Special Citation from the United States Department of Health and Human Services. 1996 -- Graham became the Editor at Large for Cooking Light magazine. He continued this position until 2000. 1997 -- Graham was appointed to the College of Diplomats of the Educational Foundation of (American) National Restaurant Association. He also received a James Beard Foundation Award 1999 -- Graham was inducted into the American Culinary Federation Hall of Fame. 2000 -- Graham was made an Honorary Life Membership to the American Dietetic Association. 2003 -- Graham received an Honorary Doctorate in "Culinary Nutrition" from Johnson & Wales University, Rhode Island. He also became a member of American Advisory Board for Partnership For Food Safety Education.

2006 -- Graham was on tour in America to promote his new book, "Recipe for Life." Television 1959 to 1968. 155 1/2 hour episodes in a series called "Entertaining with Kerr." Broadcast in Australia and New Zealand 1969 to 1971. The Galloping Gourmet. 455 1/2 hour episodes. Broadcast around the world. The series that made him famous. 1970. 5 minute radio spots called "Fun with Food", Monday to Friday on NBC Radio Network 1974. 260 5-minute infomercials on healthy eating in a series called "Take Kerr" 1976. 30-minute colour film called "Switch On Kitchen" about seafood for Cornell University. 1988. 39 half-hour programmes in a series called "Simply Marvellous" 1990. 170 1/2 hour programmes in a series called "The Graham Kerr Show" 1990. 130 thirty-second publication awareness ads on healthy eating broadcast in America 1992. PBS.

78 1/2 hour programmes in a series called "Graham Kerr's Kitchen" 1996. PBS. 26 1/2 hour episodes in a series called "The Best of Kerr" 1997. TV series "Swiftly Seasoned" for PBS, consisting of 26 1/2 hour episodes 2001. Gathering Place. 130 1-hour TV episodes. Focussed on healthy alternatives. Graham and Treena. A health expert was featured on each episode: whether a health professional, researcher or government official Books by Graham Kerr 1963. Entertaining with Kerr, AH & AW Reed, Wellington, New Zealand. 1964. The Graham Kerr Cookbook (British Edition) Lion Publishing and AH & AW Reed, Wellington, New Zealand. 1965. The Galloping Gourmets, AH & AW Reed, Sydney, Australia. 1970. The Graham Kerr Cookbook (American Edition), Doubleday. (200 recipes) 1970 to 1972. The Television Cookbooks Seven Volumes, Fremantle International, USA. 1973.

The Complete Galloping Gourmet Cookbook, Grossett and Dunlap. 1975. The New Seasoning, Simon and Schuster. 1997. The Love Feast, Simon and Schuster. 1981. Step by Step Cookbook, David C. Cook. 1991. Graham Kerr's Smart Cooking, Bantam Doubleday Dell. 1992. Graham Kerr's Minimax Cookbook, Bantam Doubleday Dell. 1993. Graham Kerr's Creative Choices, G.P. Putnam's Sons. 1994. Graham Kerr's Kitchen, G.P. Putnam's Sons. 1996. January. Graham Kerr's Best, G.P. Putnam's Sons. 1997. January. Swiftly Seasoned with Graham Kerr, G.P. Putnam's Sons. 1997. October. The Gathering Place, Camano Press. 2002. January. The Gathering Place, Volume II, Quarry Press. 2004. Graham Kerr's simply splenda cookbook. Alexandria, VA: Small Steps Press (with Treena.) 2004.

Charting a course to wellness: Creative ways of living with heart disease and diabetes. Alexandria, VA: American Diabetes Association (with Treena.) 2006. Recipe For Life. Nashville, Tennessee: Broadman & Holman Publishing Group (with Treena.) 2006. Outdulgence. Nashville, Tennessee: Broadman & Holman Publishing Group (with Treena.) Literature & Lore "The Galloping Gourmet provides an entertaining half hour, but is about as far away from the Julia Child sort of cooking as Liberace is from Horowitz." -- Lowry, Cynthia. Apollo TV coverage zooms up, too. In Elyria, Ohio: The Chronicle Telegram. 4 March 1969. Page 12. "QUESTION FOR GRAHAM KERR, TV's "Galloping Gourmet" Do you pick the people who taste your specialty for that day, and if so, are they people on your staff? (asked by Martin Thaler, Ridgefield, NJ.) Yes, I do pick the people to taste the dish, but these are people in the audience and not part of our staff or crew.

Also, these are picked at random and not selected ahead of time." -- "Ask Them Yourself" column. In Family Weekly Magazine. Tri-city Herald. Pasco, Washington. 11 April 1971. Page 2. "You just have to accept this from us," says Graham. "The male position in the household has been taken over by the female. She handles all the available money and he turns his money over to her. That's an illegal relationship. My bones are bigger than hers. I'm designed by God to take that responsibility (of decision-making)."..... In open forum discussions, in churches, in meeting halls, the Kerrs talk together. Her message is, "How I Lost the Liberation Battle and Won the War." -- Hass, Jane Glenn. Their New Recipe for Happiness. Hayward, California. The Daily Review. Tuesday, 7 June 1977. Page 8. Language Notes His last name is pronounced "care", not "cur". Sources [1] "We tried to get the message out," says Graham.

"We had little doves carved into the top of what was once the door to the wine cellar, and open Bible on the bench and a Christian tune closing the show." But when they added a one second flash of a Bible verse in the credit line, "there was fury. The station asked us, ‘Can’t you just compromise and take it off?’ " he recalls. They couldn’t. By sticking to their personal commitment, they walked away from millions of dollars and overnight were set free of 36 entangling contracts. They also lost the rights to the Galloping Gourmet trademark, which has cost them millions of dollars in earnings." -- Siewert, Dionna Lynne. Galloping Gourmet Changes Directions.Edmonton, Alberta, Canada: Living Light News. c. 1998. Retrieved Dec 2011 from [2] On "Take Kerr", there is no reminder of the Galloping Gourmet. Gone is the impressive wine cellar that was used as a backdrop for the earlier show. Instead, there is a 'God Bless' from Kerr at the end and almost subliminal flash of suggested biblical verse reading." -- White, Jean. Graham Kerr Shuns Gourmet Life.

LA Times - Washington Post. Reprinted in: Sarasota Herald-Tribune Sunday. 22 February 1976. Page 15. [3] Kerr (pronounced 'Care') has a new show now, called 'Take Kerr', on which he blends low-calorie cooking advice with a pinch of Christianity.... The new, 3 1/2 minute show ..... Besides the absence of alcohol, innuendo and calories, the new show has some other differences which reflect the new Kerr. The wine rack has been replaced with 'an alcove of light with a dove in it," a frothy theme song has been ousted by 'This is the Day the Lord has Made,' and the closing credits include a Bible quotation." -- Baker, Ann. TV's Galloping Gourmet a changed man. Eugene Register-Guard. 3 October 1975. Page 1B. [4] "Of the show which made him famous, Kerr said, "What I did wasn't an art, it was a crime ....

Kerr flails himself for encouraging alcohol use by drinking wine on the old show and for spreading 'smut and sexual innuendo' in the form of double entendres about his cooking ingredients. Food preparations such as 'stuff something into the backside of a chicken' or 'stripping an eel' gave him an opportunity to make viewers laugh with lewd jokes, he said. The Kerrs are trying to get TV stations to stop showing re-runs of the 'Galloping Gourmet' show." -- Baker, Ann. TV's Galloping Gourmet a changed man. Eugene Register-Guard. 3 October 1975. Page 1B. ____________________________________ "Hand foods diet of future". (Galloping Gourmet). Long Beach, California. Independent Press-Telegram. Wednesday, 13 October 1971. Page F-20. "What in the World!" (Galloping Gourmet). Family Weekly Magazine. 28 February 1971. Page 23. Associated Press. Galloping Gourmet Suspends TV Appearances for While. Fresno, California: The Fresno Bee. Monday, 24 July 1972.

Page A6. Associated Press. Ideal Kitchen the Aim of Galloping Gourmet. In Daily Tribune. Grand Bend, Kansas. Monday, 15 February 1971. Page 8. Canadian Press. Graham Kerr Will Relax. In Winnipeg Free Press. Winnipeg, Manitoba. Tuesday. 24 August 1971. Page 18. Claire, Aileen. Galloping Gourmet Cooks Up Delectable Television Dish. Burlington, North Carolina: Times News. 27 May 1969. Page 10-A. Deans, Ralph C. The Galloping Gourmet. Darmstadt, Hesse, Germany: The Stars and Stripes. 27 April 1969. Page 32. Dietrich, William. A Healthy Conversion. Seattle, Washington: The Seattle Times. 1 June 2003. Emlet, Dolores. Galloping Gourmet Cooks Up a New Lifestyle. Charleston, West Virginia: Charleston Daily Mail. Wednesday, 30 June 2006. Page 3B. Galloping Gourmet a must for cooks.

Kingston, Jamaica: The Sunday Gleaner Magazine. 23 April 1972. Page 9. Galloping Gourmet New Cooking Series. Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada: Winnipeg Free Press. 4 January 1969. TV Radio Section. Page 15. Gourmet Sues. Long Beach, California: Independent Press-Telegram. Saturday, 22 April 1972. Page A2. Hass, Jane Glenn. Their New Recipe for Happiness. Hayward, California. The Daily Review. Tuesday, 7 June 1977. Page 8. Jankiewicz, Robert. What has become of Graham Kerr, the Galloping Gourmet? In the 'Anytime Column'. Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada: Winnipeg Free Press. Monday, 13 November 1978. Page 7. Sassone, Bob. What's Graham Kerr up to? 27 December 2006. Slashfood. Retrieved from on 6 February 2007. Walker, Larry. Graham Kerr - gourmet. San Rafael, California: Wines & Vines Magazine. August 1995.

Print Page Graham Kerr (Chef) - Pics, Videos, Dating, & News Graham Kerr Male Born Jan 22, 1934 Graham Kerr is a cooking personality who is best known for his television cooking show The Galloping Gourmet. related links In Praise Of PepÃ­n: France's Second Greatest Gift To America Huffington Post - Dec 17, 2015 'Jacques PepÃ­n turns 80 years old on December 18th. He will celebrate that momentous occasion at home. With his family. They will cook the meal together. And celebrate life on this day as they do on so many others, by sharing food and wine, laughter and love. Among other accolades, he has been called a living legend, a master and an icon. All deserved. Make no mistake: Jacques PepÃ­n is the single greatest cooking instructor in the history of food television. In an era when cooking shows h...

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TWENTIES 1955 21 Years Old Kerr married Treena nÃ©e Van Doom, an English actress, on 22 September 1955. … Read More They first met when they were both eleven years old. They had three children together: Tessa (born 1956), Graham (born 1960) and Kareena (born 1968). Read Less 1958 24 Years Old Kerr moved to New Zealand in 1958, becoming chief chef catering adviser for the Royal New Zealand Air Force. 1959 25 Years Old He moved into television with the emergence of the new medium in New Zealand, after being recruited by NZBC producer Shirley Maddock. In 1959 he began hosting the television show Entertaining With Kerr, in which he appeared dressed in military uniform.

… Read More His recipes were also delivered on radio and in magazines, and a related book, Entertaining with Kerr, sold out its first edition in eight days.<br /><br /> Shortly after the NZTV series was launched, promoter Anthony Hollows introduced Kerr to his business partner, rising New Zealand entertainment promoter and artist manager Harry M. Miller. Miller was at first skeptical of taking Kerr on, having just lost heavily on a disastrous folk music concert promotion, but Hollows was insistent, and after seeing Kerr in action, Miller immediately saw his potential. When he met with Kerr, Miller learned that Kerr had already tried unsuccessfully to break into the much more lucrative Australian television market, but Miller (who was already well-established across the Tasman Sea as a concert promoter) was confident that he could launch Kerr in Australia. Kerr signed on as Miller's first management client, and the relationship proved enormously important and financially rewarding to both men. Miller was instrumental in launching Kerr in Australia, and then internationally, and Kerr's breakthrough in turn laid the foundation for Miller's own success as a leading player in the Australian and New Zealand entertainment industry over the next 20 years.

Read Less THIRTIES 1964 30 Years Old In 1964 Kerr moved to Sydney, and through his Australian contacts Miller was soon able to sign Kerr to present a regular cooking show on Channel 10, also called Entertaining With Kerr, as part of Australia's recently established third commercial television outlet, the TEN Network. … Read More Although Kerr's initial fee was modest, Miller wisely balanced that against the value of the exposure, sure that Kerr would make such an impact that they could call the tune for any further series. The show quickly became a huge national success, leading to daily radio spots, newspaper and magazine columns, personal appearances and lucrative product endorsements. Miller also cited winemaker and critic Len Evans as being especially helpful to Kerr in these early days. Miller soon scored another coup when he signed the multinational food company NestlÃ© as Kerr's first major sponsor.<br /><br /> At some point Kerr's television ratings took a dive, and the series was cancelled. However, his radio show continued.

On the recommendation of the wife of a board member, who listened to Kerr's radio show, the Australian Dairy Board signed Kerr to what Miller described as an endorsement contract "of staggering proportions", and Kerr was soon back on national television. Read Less 1967 33 Years Old … In his autobiography My Story, Miller recounted that "the sweetest contract I offered Graham was one he refused to sign". In the mid-1960s, Union Carbide, the manufacturers of Glad Wrap approached Miller with a lucrative offer for Kerr to become their national endorser. All Kerr had to do was make a few commercials, pose for a few photos, and use the product on his cooking show. Sensing the huge potential of the new product, Miller cannily negotiated for a multi-year contract in which Kerr was to receive a royalty of about .5c on every unit sold, instead of a flat fee. To Miller's astonishment, however, Kerr was unimpressed by Glad Wrap, and despite Miller's strenuous effort to demonstrate its enormous usefulness, Kerr remained unconvinced, pacing about the office and saying "I don't want to hear any more.

It'll never sell, it'll never sell." Consequently, Kerr and Miller missed out on what would have been one of the biggest windfalls of his career. <br /><br />Miller and Kerr parted ways in the late 1960s after Kerr received a lucrative offer from American television company Fremantle International. Although his management contract with Miller still had several years to run, Kerr and Miller agreed to a negotiated buy-out; the two parted ways amicably, and remained good friends. <br /><br />Kerr's new series for Fremantle, The Galloping Gourmet (1969â71), named for his onscreen persona, was taped in Ottawa at CJOH-TV and produced by his wife Treena Kerr. Read Less The origin of his 'Galloping Gourmet' persona stemmed from a 1967 book he co-authored with wine expert Len Evans, The Galloping Gourmets. … Read More The nickname was the result of a 35-day worldwide trek to the finest restaurants around the globe. The show was filmed in front of a live audience.

The title was echoed in the opening of each episode, where Kerr entered the stage area by running in and leaping over a chair in the dining room set (a stunt conceived by Treena).<br /><br /> Many episodes featured a pre-recorded segment in which Kerr was shown visiting the part of the world in which the dish being prepared that in that episode originated.<br /><br /> The series was known for its lighthearted humour, tomfoolery and the copious use of clarified butter, cream and fat. A famous line of Kerr's on the show was his response to someone's criticism of his cooking: "Madam, you could go outside and get run over by a bus and just think what you would have missed!" He also liberally featured wine, serving it with most meals, using it in his dishes, and waxing poetic about its virtues. He would also raise a glass of wine to his lips as a cue to the director to cut to commercials, then would bring it back up to his lips right before the show came back on. This gave the impression to some viewers that he was drinking heavily during the taping, though in reality he drank very little.

Read Less 1969 35 Years Old From 1969 to 1972, Kerr also made guest appearances on Monitor, a long-running NBC radio variety program. 1971 37 Years Old Some near-tragedies caused Kerr to suspend his television career, thus ending the show. In April 1971, Kerr and his wife Treena were involved in a car accident in California. … Read More As a result of the accident, he suffered a dislocated spine and a weakened right arm. As therapy, Kerr had to wear a one-pound bracelet in order to strengthen the weakened arm. Then in January 1972, Treena was at first diagnosed with lung cancer and given a year to live. That diagnosis turned out to be incorrect; it was later determined she had tuberculosis and part of her lungs had to be removed. She went on to make a full recovery. Read Less FORTIES Show Less By 1975, Treena had developed an addiction to painkillers, as well as "violent visions". … Read More She took up Christianity based on the recommendation of an employee, and almost immediately her symptoms improved.

As a result, Graham, too, embraced Christianity. The couple joined an evangelical Christian "Born-Again" ministry based in Washington, D.C. Read Less Kerr returned to television in 1975 with a daily, syndicated five-minute series, Take Kerr, which featured a particular recipe for each show. … Read More This programme reflected Kerr's newfound embrace of both Christianity and healthy eating, with lighter-calorie recipes and Christian elements, including the use of the hymn "This Is the Day the Lord Has Made" as a theme song. This programme lasted one series. One Christian element on the show, an inclusion of a passage from the Bible in the closing credits, was strongly resisted by some of the stations on which the show aired, and indirectly caused Kerr to lose millions of dollars in potential revenue due to his unwillingness to compromise. This series was later repeated on CNN during its first year or so on the air. Read Less In a 1975 interview publicizing Take Kerr, Kerr renounced the show The Galloping Gourmet, saying that "What I did wasn't art, it was a crime," given the high rate of obesity then in the United States.

… Read More He also apologized for two of his trademarks on that show, his wine drinking and his double entendres. He stated that he was trying to convince TV stations to remove reruns of the show from syndication. Read Less FIFTIES 1986 52 Years Old After his wife Treena's stroke, then heart attack in 1986, Kerr was prompted to create a new style of cooking that he dubbed "Minimax". … Read More This new method of food preparation minimised ("Mini-") fat and cholesterol, while it maximised ("-max") aroma, colour, texture and taste. Read Less 1990 56 Years Old Minimax led to The Graham Kerr Show, originally produced at KING-TV in Seattle and later syndicated to local stations during the 1990â91 season, followed by a run on the Discovery Channel. 1992 58 Years Old From 1992 to 1995, Kerr starred on the PBS show Graham Kerr's Kitchen, which again embraced the low-fat, "minimax" approach.

… Read More Minimax also led to three successful cookbooks: Graham Kerr's Smart Cooking, Graham Kerr's Minimax Cookbook and Graham Kerr's Creative Choices (A Minimax Book) along with corresponding series on public television. Read Less LATE ADULTHOOD 1995 61 Years Old In 1995, he appeared in a PBS special with Julia Child called Cooking in Concert: Julia Child & Graham Kerr. Graham Kerr | NZ On Screen Biography Graham Kerr was born in London to hotel manager parents. His first cooking lesson came at age six with a chef who tried to teach him to make puff pastry. It was a failure, and by no means a portent of what was to come, but it did teach Kerr that he didn’t have “pastry hands”. Following his National Service, where he was an Army catering adviser, he was restaurant and then general manager of Royal Ascot Hotel. At age 23 he had a staff of 100, functions every night and, at one stage, worked for three months without a day off. Looking for an alternative, he applied for the job of running RNZAF catering and arrived in New Zealand in 1958.

His break into television came in 1960 with On Your Doorstep. Filming of exercises with an Air Force physical education instructor had to be called off after he sprained his ankle. Instead, a uniformed Flight Lieutenant Kerr demonstrated how to make an omelette in what is reputed to be only the second outside broadcast undertaken by the NZBC. Radio work followed and, encouraged by pioneer broadcaster Shirley Maddock , television wasn’t far behind. His first series - six 15 minute episodes called Eggs with Kerr - debuted on New Zealand television in September 1961. Another six episode series followed in April 1962. Called Entertaining with Kerr, it focused on fish and ran every second Monday night (alternating with an astronomy programme). The programmes displayed a sophistication that had rarely been seen in New Zealand cuisine. Kerr’s first series had aired at 8pm but the second was on at 9pm – a reflection, perhaps, that his approach was more adult than family viewing.

The Galloping Gourmet identity that he was developing advocated heavy use of butter and cream, wine was liberally splashed about – and no mention of chicken breast or leg of lamb was allowed to pass without an appropriate double entendre. But as he shows in this episode of The Graham Kerr Show , he also had wit, a natural flair for what he was doing — and an urbane English charm at a time when New Zealanders were very happy to defer to the right sort of overseas experts. In a way now well established for celebrity chefs, he became an industry in his own right. He started writing a regular column in the Listener and there were equipment endorsements and cook books based on his TV shows. His first book bore the dedication “To Parsley – and my wife” and his sense of humour was never far away. He took a particular delight in naming his recipes and the word “Karewai” featured in several of them. Far from being authentic Maori, it was a play on “Kerr-way”. A further TV series featured a different theme and guest in each episode.

The show included poet Denis Glover, a housewife (for ‘Cooking on a Budget’) and his wife Treena (for ‘A Night out at Home’). However, in the early days of NZ television, much of the glamour stayed firmly in front of the cameras. Kerr would later recall that “we got to wash our own pots and pans in the men’s loo”. By 1965 Kerr was making programmes in Australia, and tempting fate by telling the NZ Herald that “too often foreigners come to New Zealand, do well and then leave to accept better positions overseas. That is not for me. I will be staying here.” He was now, however, getting too big for New Zealand. Following his stint in Australia he based himself in Canada where he made 440 episodes of The Galloping Gourmet between 1969 and 1971. Even bigger changes were in store for Kerr and his wife. A serious car crash in 1971 led them to re-evaluate their lives and their priorities – and they converted to Christianity in 1974. For several years his programmes featured a piece of scripture and a devotional song (often edited out by broadcasters).

By 1975 he was telling the Listener that he had “got fed up with the guzzling of wine and the sexual innuendo” and that the “Galloping Gourmet had been an excessive human being”. The more religious aspects of his shows were subsequently toned down and a new calling emerged. Kerr had already been moving towards healthier cooking. This process accelerated in 1986 when Treena had a heart attack - and he became a passionate advocate for low fat cooking. Graham Kerr can now claim to have made more than 1,800 programs in the United States, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Asia, Africa, United Kingdom and Europe, and his tagline is “Committed to Good Health, Good Taste, & Contributing to the Common Good” – a far cry from a Flight Lieutenant making an omelette and the subsequent antics of the Galloping Gourmet.

Sources include ‘Crusader in the Cause of Good Food’ (Interview) - NZ Listener, 1 Sept 1961, Page 3 Mary Varnham, ‘A New Season for the Galloping Gourmet’ (Interview) - NZ Listener, 27 Dec 1975, Page 12 David Burton, New Zealand Food and Cookery (Auckland: David Bateman, 2009) David Veart, First Catch Your Weka: A Story of New Zealand Cooking (Auckland: Auckland University Press, 2008) Graham Kerr’s Kitchen | Graham Kerr Home / Books / Graham Kerr’s Kitchen Graham Kerr’s Kitchen $10.00 Graham Kerr’s Kitchen Many of us have familiar family favorites that we serve often. Usually we get big smiles both before and after. We often call these nostalgic meals or “comfort food” and they tend to be quite high in salt, fat and sugar with larger portions. I wanted to visit these recipes and use 26 techniques that I had created over the 28 years that I cooked and cared for my wife Treena.

She needed fewer calories from saturated fat, less ‘refined’ carbohydrates and lots of fruit and vegetables as well as whole grains. I asked viewers to send me their family recipes for me to ‘fix’ and then sent the reworked recipe back for their input. I had some wonderful responses and these are all in the book. I then asked well known creative chefs to use the same techniques using their own selected ingredients –again, for every technique there is a chef’s original creation. Good food that nourishes and delights must use good basic techniques –this book shows you how it all works. Specifications: The Galloping Gourmet The Galloping Gourmet Hans Demuth, Holiday Inns ; Graham Kerr; Chef Arris Smyrnios, The Skyline Motor Hotel. HE HAD STAR QUALITY Graham Kerr, The Galloping Gourmet was indeed Televisions 1st Celebrity Chef. In the 1960’s and through the 70’s and 80’s his shows captured a world wide audience. Born into a hotel family he traveled to work with Europe’s finest chefs. Among many stints in the kitchens he was Head Chef at The Royal Ascot Hotel.

He moved to New Zealand in 1958 and there began his broadcasting career. In 2003 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate for the Culinary Arts from Johnson and Wales University, Providence, Rhode Island. During his 1969 National Tour of Canada he was the key- note speaker at the 7th Annual Convention of the Canadian Federation of Chefs de Cuisine at the Seaway Towers Hotel, Toronto. His message was: A National Image for Chefs. Graham was the first speaker to bring the Convention Delegates to their feet with a standing ovation for his views on the world of cooking. The following are a few excerpts from his presentation: He told chefs to get away from Chicken Kiev and other standard palate pamperers that are served around the World and concentrate on Regional and Local delicacies. “When I worked in the Kitchens of the Savoy Hotel in London, I used to save all the rotten eggs and decayed lettuce to throw at the screen when Britain’s TV chef Phillip Harbin was on. I hated him – so I know exactly how you feel about me!! We must put the fun back into cooking, or we will terrify youngsters out of the finest profession that I know” Hello!...

Beam me up Scotty. … Graham’s message comes to us from forty years past and it still rings true to-day. Guideposts Classics: Graham Kerr's Spiritual Awakening | Guideposts Guideposts Classics: Graham Kerr's Spiritual Awakening Guideposts Classics: Graham Kerr's Spiritual Awakening Guideposts Classics: Graham Kerr's Spiritual Awakening In this Guideposts Classic, TV chef Graham Kerr shares how faith saved his marriage. by c Scissors are a wonderful invention, two blades that pivot on a pin. God made man and woman in the same way–two blades. And He put them together with a union called marriage. We were married, put together by God, on September 22, 1955, but our marriage scissors never worked. The only exposed edges were the points, and points are for stabbing, not cutting. We loved each other, we always have–ever since we were 11 years old and held hands briefly at a party where we had strawberries and cream and played badminton and listened to the bees. Treena: My father was a genius, a portrait painter who alternately followed his own will and his clients’ whereabouts. We never knew from one year to the next where our home would be.

Graham: My parents ran a hotel and I grew up experiencing a “champagne existence on a beer income.” I never made a bed or had to wash a dish; the hotel staff managed all those incidentals. My parents were always busy. The holidays were working days, and we never shared with the community. I was a loner when I first met Treena in England. She was the loveliest thing I had ever seen and we became close companions. She had younger brothers, but I was an only child. We used to listen to the radio while the rain ran down the diamond-shaped leaded panes and debate the sinister motives of a bystander in a trench coat as he innocently waited for a bus. We rang each other on the phone and read poetry or just listened to the other breathe. Treena: My family finally left England and went to the Channel Islands. I used to write to Graham occasionally, and I daydreamed about our early “love.” I grew up in a difficult home. My parents were not loving parents, and I sought a release from painful reality by becoming an actress. I was quite good, at least the critics used to say so.

I loved the cameo parts where I could steal the show but still feign non-competitiveness with the rest of the cast. I got love from the audience on my terms; when the curtain went down I was satisfied and didn’t have to trade love on a one-to-one basis. Graham: While Treena was acting, I became a soldier. One day in camp, I opened a newspaper and there, spread over the center pages, were photographs of Treena, my first love. She had won a beauty contest and she looked radiant. I wrote and she answered. The thread remained unbroken. Treena: In 1954 I returned to England and wrote to Graham. He replied and within a month we had met and found that after nine years of separation our love was still alive. Graham: Within ten hours of being with her I proposed, and Treena said yes. We were living our early love again, but this time there was drama, urgency, drive; we were adults, now. though we didn’t always act like it. Treena: I had a violent temper and a very acid tongue. I was more seriously hurt by my early environment than I–or Graham–knew.

Graham: While Treena was the spark. I seemed to be the drive in our marriage. When her moods were electric I would “take it.” but also build resentment at the same time. I found release in working. As the work element increased, my available time and attention for Treena decreased. I began to set my sights on possessions–Italian cars, homes by the water, luxurious yachts. And a burgeoning TV career in Australia provided the wherewithal to turn some of those materialistic dreams into reality. Treena: By this time I was in the theater again, happy and contented, feeling I’d finally got things together. We had two children and I could manage the housework and the theater and Graham ... when he was home. Graham: Treena would try to time her stage work to coincide with my TV recording dates, but it never seemed to work. The plays she did always ran longer than expected and it seemed that we were never together. The theater became my rival; her work seemed to give her more joy and satisfaction than I could. Finally we lost control. Success, exposure to luxury and to the smart show-business set, coupled with the pursuit of two separate careers, were too much.

The time came when I sought sympathy and attention from another woman. I cannot possibly express the absolute hell that followed that senseless, brutal act, the tearing at both our hearts with the points of the scissors. Treena: I was filled with righteous anger; I felt dirty and ashamed. It was so unfair. “Why? Why? Why?” I demanded. Graham: “I don’t know,” I would reply. All I knew was remorse for our lost love, and a furious desire to make up for it somehow. I would do things, buy things, go places; it was all external patching up when an internal healing was what was needed. We were submerged in a sea of recrimination, unforgivingness and eventually retaliation. We hacked away at each other with separated blades. In 1968 we were discovered by American television interests and brought from Australia to perform The Galloping Gourmet series. In an effort to save our failing marriage we agreed that we would cooperate in the production. Treena would be the producer and I would be the clockwork cook. The pressure of the nonstop pace of 200 new shows a year was agonizing. The enemy now became the work load that we shared.

Professionally, we were a tremendously successful team. All the thwarted power of love was converted into drive and ceaseless competition to see who could do the most before collapsing. By April, 1971. we had well over a million dollars in the bank. In that same month we were hit by a huge truck on Highway 101 outside of San Francisco. Our careers were ended. Treena: I had violent visions and fell into deep periods of despair and fear. Eventually this depression induced illness–tuberculosis–and I had one lung removed. Graham: I hadn’t suffered mentally but my neck and back had been injured and I couldn’t take the recording pace any more, especially without Treena producing the shows. Together we had managed, but on my own the burden became impossible. So we walked away from that life and went to sea in a beautiful yacht called Treena. She was 71 feet long and flew 5300 square feet of canvas. She was one giant investment aimed at recapturing our family unity and our love for each other. But the boat was too big and too fancy and nobody except its owner-skipper wanted to go sailing anyway!

It was a 66-ton love-substitute that ate up all our reserves. Treena: Twenty-five-thousand miles and twenty-two months later our fragmented family, strained even more by the isolation of shipboard life, came to rest in Maryland at the small port of Oxford. There we purchased an 1814 white clapboard Southern colonial mansion with acres of lawn and graceful colonades and wide river views. In this tranquil spot I finally hit rock bottom. Nothing had worked at sea and now there was no peace ashore. I began to take pills–“uppers.” “downers,” painkillers, sleeping pills–anything to try to control the violent moods that had caused our doctor to discuss with Graham the possibility of my voluntary commitment. Our children were in serious trouble; life was unbearable. We had a maid working for us at that time. Her name was Ruthie and she shimmered with joy everyday. I turned to her one day and said, “I just don’t know what to do, Ruthie.” She simply said, “Why don’t you give your problems to God?” to which I brusquely replied, “Okay, God, You take them.

I can’t handle them any more.” God took them! Seven days later I went to Ruthie’s small church in Bethlehem, Maryland. As the singing, handclapping congregation prayed for their “new sister” I felt an undulation in the pit of my stomach that rose to nearly suffocate me; I screamed and fell to my knees, crying tears that flowed like waterfalls. “I’m sorry, Jesus. I’m sorry, Jesus,” I repeated again and again. I was baptized in water and felt glowingly clean. Then they asked me if I wanted to tarry for the Holy Spirit. I didn’t know who the Holy Spirit was, let alone what tarry meant. “What do I do?” I asked. Ruthie told me to say, “Thank You, Jesus,” so I did–over and over. The church was hot and I felt ridiculous. Really, I thought, you are a sophisticated woman of forty going right out of your mind! Then a bright light fell on my face and I thought, Now they’ve turned up the church lights to make me think that I’ve got it–whatever “it” is! I opened my eyes and there I saw a Man.

He was dressed all in white and He had the most wonderful smile I have ever seen. It held all the love in all the world. He stretched His hand toward me and He touched my heart. He said, “You have it,” and I laughed tears of joy as I said, “I know ... I know ... I know.” I believed in Jesus at that moment. He is alive; I’ve seen and spoken with Him, so I truly know. I left that church a totally new human being filled with the great certainty that, if I just kept quiet, my husband and family eventually would share this love. Graham: I had tried unsuccessfully to get our lives back together with everything that money could buy. But now Treena was utterly and completely changed. It was a miracle! There were no more rows or recriminations. She forgave me and seemed to mean it. Our children were happier; the house was peaceful. But I still worried. How long would this last? When would this Jesus thing disintegrate? If I got too close, I’d get hurt when it blew, so I kept back and watched and waited. Treena: While Graham waited. I prayed. I prayed everywhere, especially in the broom cupboard.

(The Bible had said in Matthew 6:6 to pray in a closet!) I fasted and prayed, but never urged Graham to follow. Graham: After three months I was totally convinced Jesus was real and that He was alive in Treena. It was then that I went on my knees and told Him, “Jesus ... I love You.” And with that confession, He loved me right back. Graham and Treena: When we pray together we hold hands, and through us now flows the love of Jesus. We are forgiven, so now we have the ability to forgive. There are no old hurts left, only the hunger to serve Him and His people with our lives. We are a new pair of scissors put together by God. He, at last, is the pinion at the center of our marriage.

Question: What was TV chef Graeme Kerr nicknamed
Answer: The Galloping Gourmet